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Monday, December 12, 2011

Roasted Root Vegetables

Between the Thanksgiving feasts
and the birthday pizzas I’ve had in the recent weeks, and the insane amount of latkes
I will eat at the end of the month, I decided the middle of December is a time
to detox. What better way to do that
than with a whole bunch of vegetables?
And since it’s that time of year, let’s make it root vegetables!

This is a delicious and healthy
dish that has become a cold weather favorite for my family. I legitimately can’t remember when or how
this recipe came to our Shabbat dinner table for the first time, but I can tell
you that my sisters and I have been requesting it ever since.

What’s great about this recipe is
how adaptable it is. You can play around
with what root vegetables you use, depending on your taste. Don’t like parsnips? Leave them out. Can’t get enough beets? Add some more. The basic principle stays the same no matter
what you put in the oven. And they all
taste good hot and fresh, with that lovely hint of rosemary. So grab your favorite root vegetables, get
out your peeler and you knife, and enjoy a hearty, healthy, and delicious dish.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Serves 8

Ingredients:

4 russet potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes

2 bunches of beets

3 carrots

3 parsnips

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

3-4 sprigs of rosemary

You can totally save the beet greens and use them in another dish!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F

1. Peel and wash all the vegetables, then cut them
into similar sized chunks (except for the garlic, which is already small, so
just keep the cloves as they are). I
recommend doing everything but the beets through step 3, then going back,
doing the beets, and adding them right before baking (this reduces the color
bleed from the beets).

2. Toss the vegetables with 1-2 tablespoons of
olive oil and a dash each of salt and pepper until everything is evenly coated.

3. Spread the vegetables out in a large pan (or
pans) so that everything is in a single layer.
I recommend using a roasting pan or two for this. Take the rosemary springs and lay them on top
of the vegetables (rosemary is so fragrant that it will flavor all the
vegetables in the pan just by being in the oven with them).

4. Put the vegetables into the oven and bake for
about an hour, turning them once halfway through. They’re done when things are just starting to
brown (or are an acceptable level of browness for you). The vegetables will shrink up in the oven, so don't be surprised! Serve warm or room temperature.

9 comments:

Those roasted vegetables look like gems on the plate. I think there isn't much prettier in the veggie world than a roasted beet (yeah, I'm weird). I feel the need for some detox midway through the month as well. It's just one party after another and there's never anything healthy on the heavy-laden tables. Thank you for this beautiful, delicious meal.

@ The Mom Chef - I totally agree with you the roasted beet is absolutely gorgeous! And it doesn't taste too bad either :-)

@ Kiri - I throw the beets in the mix right before I put everything in the oven to minimize staining. You could also put them in their own roasting dish, but I kind of like the bit of color they give to the other root veggies.